1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a one-piece hubless-type V-grooved pulley formed from an offset cylindrical tubular sheet metal blank having a cylindrical pulley mounting flange extending from the V-grooved portion of the pulley, in which the mounting flange may mount the pulley, for example, on the clutch of an automotive air compressor to provide V-belt drive means for the air compressor. More particularly, the invention relates to a special cross-sectional contour of the V-shaped tubular pulley product and to methods of and apparatus for the manufacture of such pulleys.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Extensive use of automotive air conditioner equipment has called for improvements in the V-belt pulley drive structure mounted on the air conditioner compressor clutch. It is desirable to assemble the pulleys telescopically with tubular pulley flange means telescopically mounted on a compressor clutch. This has required the hub bottom wall of prior cup-shaped pulleys to be removed. However, such expedient heretofore in some instances has limited the location of the V-groove in a spun one-piece pulley to be entirely outside the tubular pulley mounting flange.
Such arrangements require the use of more metal, and thus, a heavier weight of pulley than is desirable. Also pulleys formed by a series of die press operations have involved a double flange V-groove wall at the open end of the pulley.
A need exists for spun dynamically-balanced pulleys used for driving automotive air conditioners and adapted for telescopic mounting on the compressor clutch which spun pulleys have great strength, dynamic balance and reduced metal content and weight as compared with prior pulleys; and for a method of and apparatus for manufacturing such pulleys.